Akaya Kirihara
Akaya Kirihara (切原 赤也, Kirihara Akaya?) is the youngest and only second year student in the Rikkai Dai line-up, thus earning him the title "Second Year Ace." He joined Rikkai because he heard the school had a very strong tennis team, but his hopes were quickly crushed by the Three Demons. Character Kirihara first appears when he accidentally arrives at Seigaku while oversleeping on his ride to a tournament; he looks childish, friendly - and no where near as cruel as he acts in his match against Fudomine, where he causes Kippei Tachibana (Fudomine Middle School's tennis captain) such serious injuries that he has to be hospitalized and (in the anime) miss the Senbatsu camp. In the manga, Kirihara aims for Tachibana's head and stomach; in the anime, he just aims for his ankle. Overall he tends to act cocky and over-confident towards other players unless he specificially respects them- though that does not always stop him from joking about them either to their face or behind their backs. When Kirihara is under hard pressure or his pride is being injured, he becomes extremely angry and 'devilish', as depicted with blood red eyes. He then unleashes a brutal assault on the opponent's body. He uses this technique on Tachibana and later on Shūsuke Fuji. However, this technique is completely ineffective against Kirihara's vice-captain, Genichirō Sanada, because of Sanada's incredible reflexes; Sanada himself says that if Kirihara trained for ten more years, perhaps he would have a chance against him. Relationships Kirihara is one of the more light-hearted members on the Rikkai Dai team, and their only second year. This has led to his nickname of "Junior Ace" by the rest of the team; it can also be inferred that he is considered the 'baby' of the team by the other Regulars. He is addressed/referred to only as 'Akaya' by them (in the manga: usage of the given name without a suffix in Japan could be said to infer either closeness, affection, or simply being comfortable with the person being addressed), although Yagyū - polite even when addressing his teammates- seems to call him 'Kirihara-kun'; Jackal is assigned to 'look after' him, as it were, and they generally treat him lightly and are concerned for his growth and wellbeing. They are stern when necessary, however: they all admonished him for his loss against Ryoma in the manga , and Yanagi and Sanada have both hit him (Yanagi perhaps lightly, Sanada for his going against their promise to Yukimura by losing and stepping out of line by having an unofficialmatch ). He could be said to get along with all of his teammates, therefore, to varying degrees; out of the Three Demons, he could be said to get along best with Renji Yanagi. After a rather rough start, they develop a bittersweet companionship: in the manga, after Yanagi loses his match with Sadaharu Inui in the Kantō Tournament, he protects him from Sanada's admonishing hit using his racket. He seems to hold the same friendliness with Yukimura, the Captain, as the rest of the team all do; whilst he seems to find Sanada rather stern and harsh, he respects Sanada - and Sanada, in turn, seems to be supportive of him, albeit not often expressing it (yelling out for Kirihara to win for Rikkai with his own hands during his match with Fuji) in the manga . He is not shown to have relationships with many others outside of his own team: however, he could be said to hold an interest in strong players in general, especially Kunimitsu Tezuka of Seigaku (and, to an extent, Echizen Ryoma of the same school). He also seems to have a good relationship with Shiraishi after their doubles match at the U-17 camp, since Shiraishi promised Renji to watch over Akaya and keep his devil mode in check. History Kirihara is blessed with rather high concentration span (as pointed out by Sanada), but he has had a lot of bad luck, accompanied by his worse attitude. He begins with joking around in Seigaku's Tennis Club, but he ends up causing an accident that disrupts the club practice in such a way that he quickly flees the scene, not wanting the incident to be traced back to him. Kirihara always expects the best from himself and hates losing. Three years ago, he heard that Rikkai Dai Fuzoku had won the last year's national championship and had an incredibly strong team, so he entered the school with the ambition to be the best. But as he says himself, "My ambition was quickly crushed by the "Sannin Bakemono" (three monsters)!" After that, Kirihara's new ambition became to defeat the "monsters" (Rikkai Dai's captain, Seiichi Yukimura, Sanada, and Renji Yanagi), and he became a regular on Rikkai Dai's tennis team following these events. In the spring, he meets up with Ryoma Echizen of Seigaku for the first time, and the two size each other up. When Rikkai Dai once again reaches the Kantō Tournament, Kirihara faces Tachibana of Fudomine in the semi-finals; however, although Tachibana is a nationally ranked player, Kirihara easily wins, thanks to a combination of his violent play and Tachibana having locked away his true potential (due to being a player with violent tendencies himself). Just before the finals in the manga, Kirihara meets up with Ryoma while he is training, and they have a match . Kirihara jumps up to a 4-0 lead, but then Ryoma accidentally taps into the State of Self Actualization, and he proceeds to win the next 6 games. When Sanada finds out, he punishes Kirihara by slapping him across the face in front ofthe team, since Rikkai's policies don't allow members to have unofficial matches without express approval. At the current time, it seems Kirihara may have already skill-wise surpassed Yanagi, who technically is the weakest of the "three monsters". Ironically, the "demon" that Kirihara has the best off-court relationship with is the aforementioned Yanagi, as aforementioned; Kirihara stops Sanada slapping Yanagi with his racket, claiming that it isn't needed as he will win against all odds. However, Kirihara loses as well to Fuji; although Kirihara activates the State of Self Actualization, his body can't keep up and he faints. In the anime, Kirihara tasted the feeling of violence by himself. This was reflected in the match against Fuji when he thought Fuji trying to take his revenge on him by hitting his knee, which wouldn't have happened had Kirihara not stepped back. Though it was all perception, it went along in Kirihara's decision to change his violent style. During the Junior Invitational camp arc in the anime, Kirihara decides to stop using Bloodshot and not injure anyone else, but no one outside of Rikkai Dai believes him - mainly because his cockiness hasn't changed. Ann Tachibana, Kippei Tachibana's little sister, who was working there as a manager, decides to face him and doesn't believe his words about being "reformed". When Kirihara loses his patience and insults the whole Fudomine team, Ann tries to slap him, but he takes a wrong step and falls down a flight of stairs. The Fudomine sub-captain, Akira Kamio, is blamed for this until Ryoma Echizen unmasks Ann and later plays with Kirihara, forcing him to face his demons. Kirihara says that he will never injure anybody else, and after the incident he has since stayed true to his word. However, this only occurs in the anime. In the manga, Kirihara still plays as violently as before. As he was deeply injured suffering 5 straight games of Nagoya Seitoku's captain Liliaden Krauser's even more violent style of play, Akaya snapped into Devil Mode and destroyed him, effectively turning around the fate of the match as well as the whole National Semifinals tie. This appears to have had a lasting effect on him that carries on into the National Finals; the same reaction was provoked from him upon his being hit once in the face by Kaoru Kaidō's rendition of the Laser Beam, and he instantly snapped into Devil Mode from Bloodshot, with his victim this time being Sadaharu Inui, Kaidōs doubles partner at the time. It has been noted in the series that Kirihara plays the strongest players from each school; it has also been noted that by playing against the strongest, he will become the strongest - perhaps one day strong enough to defeat his Captain Yukimura and Vice-Captain Sanada. Much as Hiyoshi Wakashi has been cited to be the most likely Regular to become the next Captain of the Hyōtei team (and confirmed in the U-17 arc), it can be assumed that Kirihara will be the next Captain of the Rikkai Dai team once the other Regulars - all third-years - graduate. He is directed to sit on the captain's (Rikkai does not have a visible coach, and it can be assumed that Sanada takes that position on the team) bench by Sanada after his match with Fuji, and it is a logical assumption to make: he will be the only remaining Regular on the team next year. In the U-17 camp, Akaya partners with Renji thinking they would have to be a doubles team. However they are forced to play tie-breaker and are led to believe that the loser must leave the camp. Renji despite it being his game point, forfeits the tie-break on purpose telling Akaya to crawl higher. Akaya angrily accepts knowing he would have to go home if it wasnt for his senpais kindness. He defeats all of his High School opponents after this and reaches the 5th Court. In the 5th Court, the court captain Jūjirō Oni puts the court(team) forward for a Team Shuffle against the 3rd Court. Unlike a Player shuffle, the Team Shuffle means the winning team regardless of those who lost a set replace the losing team. He is partnered with Shiraishi in Doubles 2 against High School 3rd Years Miyako Shinobu and Matsudaira Chikahiko of the 3rd Court. They defeat the them thanks to Shiraishi removing the bandage on his left arm which hid a heavy gold forearm weight. In this match he first reveals Angel Mode. Since the 5th Court win, they switch places with the 3rd Court meaning Akaya is now in the 3rd Court. Tennis Style Kirihara is an Aggressive Baseliner, further emphasized by his violent style of play. He has a relatively high concentration rate, and can play 8 games without even resting. States or Modes Within certain situations during a match, Kirihara would enter a specified form. Usually, it's the Bloodshot mode and it's extention, the Devil Mode. In the manga, he has also achieved the State of Self-Actualization. ;Bloodshot :A state that Kirihara enters when he is under high pressure, injured, or pushed to the point of anger in a match. The whites of his eyes turn red, and his power, skill, and speed increase. In this mode, Kirihara will aim towards the opponent's body; his shots becoming faster and more powerful. :In the manga, Kirihara appears to only injure his opponent as necessary to make sure they do not win, not out of thoughtless malice. For example against Fuji, once succeeding in blinding him, the only further shots at Fuji's body we see are extremely little and merely 'teasing' hits. Tachibana was also entirely well enough to participate in the match for Third Place in the Kantō Finals against Rokkaku (merely a week after he suffered his injuries from Kirihara). In the anime, Kirihara often licks his lips in this mode, which shows that he loves what he is doing - a trait never shown in the manga, where his play simply becomes more aggressive and more violently-inclined. In contrast to the manga, Kirihara will go out of his way to hurt his opponents and continue doing so even if it may seem as though his win is assured. ;Devil Mode :Kirihara seems to have expanded Bloodshot in response to the severe physical injury he suffered whilst playing against Liliaden Krauser in the National Semifinals - whilst also under the extreme pressure of having his team's advancement to the Finals staked on his winning (Rikkai being 2 sets down and Kirihara being 5; :0 40-love down at this point) and being insulted by the opposing team, Kirihara's skin changes color to dark red (light red in the anime) and his hair becomes white. His bloodlust and destructive power are enhanced, and he seems to lose any reason he might have retained in his prior Bloodshot mode: he could be said to become solely focused on crushing the opposing player(s) using purely violent means. After his initial provocation into the state, it seems to be easier for him to reach it. However, this state is useless against his fellow Rikkai teammate and his mentor, Yanagi Renji, during the U-17 tiebreaker matches. At the U-17 it was also stated that the devil mode has life threatening side effects and will lead to the destruction of his mind if he continues to use it. ;Muga no Kyōchi (無我の境地, Muga no Kyōchi, trans. State of Self Actualization) :A state in which the user naturally intakes all techniques he sees and can perfectly copy them, Kirihara is one of a few players, including his Captain and Vice-Captain Yukimura and Sanada, who have achieved Muga no Kyōchi. However, its weakness is that the ability to copy the opponent comes from the body, not the brain, and as a result, wears out one's body out further than usual since most techniques are beyond what a person can execute. Due to this weakness, when Kirihara uses this technique for the first time in his match against Fuji in the Kantō Finals, he loses consciousness. :He has not shown it since, but judging from Ryoma's experiences, he probably will not have a problem with losing consciousness again. Given that he has recently exhibited Devil Mode as an extension to Bloodshot, it is unknown as to where he will develop from here; whilst his attainment of Muga no Kyōchi was thought of to be an essential part of his evolution and growth, he has not used it since, instead exhibiting Devil Mode in its place as his 'trump card'. ;Phantom Ball (Anime Only) :The Phantom Ball does not appear until after Kirihara's match with Seigaku's Shūsuke Fuji. He develops this technique to prove to everyone that he is willing to change into a better person and that he doesn't need shots that hurt his opponents in order to win. This shot is first shown during his match against the America Team's Kevin Smith. This shot uses inhuman speed and extraordinary amount of hit precision and force application in order to produce the necessary spin for the ball. When it lands, the spin and speed of the ball creates an illusion of temporary disappearance, and then reappears at another place confusing left-handed players, since they normally hit a backhand at the time. Kirihara can also fake the Phantom Ball, which makes it almost impossible to return. However, this ball is harmless against right-handed players. :Angel Mode :Angel mode in simalar to Devil mode in appearence however a major difference is that he doesn't go insane when accessing it and his control and abilities sky-rocket. He first accesses it when he is playing Matsudaira and Miyako of the third court at the U-17 camp. Shiraishi had revealed his gold gauntlet and increased the speed of his serves however Miyako had found a weakness after Kirihara and Shiraishi had caught up. Miyako preceeded to hit Akaya on service returns causing him to go into what appeared to be the Devil mode, miyako decided that to rip apart the doubles pair however Akaya had kept his sanity this time creating what the others called the angel mode. Techniques ;One-Footed Split Step (片足スプリットステップ, kata ashi supuritto suteppu) :A split step using one foot. This difference allows Kirihara to increase his speed and cover the court more effectively. It has been noted that this comes naturally to him, whereas it has been mentioned that Ryoma - the only other known to perform the one-footed split step - is only able to perform it through his father training him in tennis since he was young. ;Dunk Smash :Dunk Smash is different than normal smashes in that he uses the momentum from running to hit the smash, through perfect timing, by jumping forward, instead of jumping backwards to hit a smash, thus causing Dunk Smash to be twice as powerful and more effective than a normal smash. ;Knuckle Serve :The Knuckle Serve is a more powerful version of the Kick Serve and the Twist Serve. Kirihara presses the ball between his fingers (more precisely, his knuckles. Hence the name.) and then throws the ball up into the air, which creates a unusual spin on the ball. When the ball bounces, it goes straight for the opponent's body with high speed and destructive power. The direction can only be decided and determined by its user. One of Kirihara's trademarks while using this serve is to say "Bye-Bye" in English. ;Twist Serve :A serve that curves when it is bounced and is meant to hit the opponents face. It was first seen in the match against Fuji Shūsuke. ;Red Snake Shot :A return shot that has an offset topspin that causes it to curve to the corners of the court, making the opponent run around and lose stamina. This is done by Kirihara shifting his weight from his right leg to his left and swings his racquet upwards while putting a lot of topspin on the ball with centrifugal force, making it go over the net in a crescent moon shaped fashion. This technique is originally Kaidō's; however, the destructive power far outclasses Kaido's. Being only grazed by the shot resulted in blood drawn from Kaido's left cheek. This technique is first debuted in the Nationals against the Inui/Kaidō pair. ;Tornado Snake :A variation of Kaido's Snake, the Tornado Snake has a gyro spin version. Originally created by Kaidō, Kirihara hits the ball with an upward facing backspin of a Magnus power and travel direction against a spin axis with a 45 degree entry angle. Because it's spinning, the ball barely receives any air resistance. The destructive power of this technique, like the Red Snake, outclasses Kaidō's. Notable Matches Hiyoshi Wakashi Before the manga starts Kirihara and Hyōtei Gakuen's Wakashi Hiyoshi have a match in the newcomer's tournament. Rikkai Dai's Renji Yanagi brings it up before Ryoma Echizen and Hiyoshi's match: he mentions that Hiyoshi had done fairly well against him, although Kirihara pretends not to remember (which Sanada doesn't believe). Kippei Tachibana In the Kantō Tournament, Rikkai Dai faces off against Fudomine. Kirihara plays against 3rd year and Captain Kippei Tachibana in Singles 3. Although Tachibana is a nationally-ranked player, he had locked away his Wild Beast Aura at that point. Like Kirihara in his Bloodshot or Devil Modes, he used to be a player with more-or-less hidden violent tendencies, although Kirihara's violent play is due to his snapping into different states of mind due to pressure or physical injury; Tachibana's violent play appeared to be conscious. Tachibana ultimately loses 6-1, after toying with Kirihara for one game and taunting him about the time limit Kirihara had set himself for the match. Kirihara entered Bloodshot and proceeded to win the next six games, aiming the ball at his head and stomach as he did so. It should be noted that this is apparently the first time Kirihara had entered Bloodshot in a while - possibly since his defeat at the hands of the "Three Demons" of Rikkai Dai, when he was in his first year and before he became a Regular. Jackal Kuwahara, his teammate, mentions that he was surprised at Kirihara's increased speed and power in his Bloodshot mode when he played against Tachibana, as he thought Kirihara had been playing 'seriously' up until that match; it can be inferred that Jackal had not seen Kirihara go Bloodshot before that time. Ryoma Echizen (manga Version) Kirihara and Ryoma Echizen of Seigaku meet prior to the Kantō Regional Finals, at a tennis club Kirihara frequently practises at. Upon hearing Kirihara's complaint that nobody in Seigaku could show them 'true tennis' aside from Tezuka, Ryoma tells him that he can do so, thus essentially challenging him to a match. Ryoma and Kirihara prove to be evenly-matched, although Ryoma is forced to play defensively; upon their weights being removed, the match is still even. However, Kirihara snaps into Bloodshot because of the pressure, and this mode is too much for Ryoma to fight against for a while (he lost four consecutive games and his knee was damaged due to Kirihara's violent playstyle whilst in Bloodshot). However, whilst losing 4-0, Ryoma unconsciously taps into the State of Self Actualization for the first time. He goes into a trance and wins sixs consecutive games, defeating Kirihara, but then falling unconscious. When he awakes, he is unaware of his victory. Shūsuke Fuji (anime version) Fuji starts the match off with his Disappearing Serve. Kirihara fails to return the Disappearing serve three times in a row - however, on the fourth try, Kirihara was able to hit it, but the ball hits the net, so Fuji wins the game. During Kirihara's service game, he hits a Twist Serve, but this is evaded by Fuji. After Kirihara fails to win a few points from Fuji, he enters Bloodshot mode and hits a drop shot, which Fuji returns. However, Kirihara then smashes the ball into Fuji's knee, repeating this at least two times afterwards and subsequently winning the game. Kirihara follows this up with a Knuckle Serve, which hits Fuji's head. Due to ensuing pain and the limits placed on his movement by his knee injury, Fuji goes on to lose three straight games. Kirihara continues using this strategy until Tachibana comes to encourage Fuji. Kirihara, seeing him, aims a Knuckle Serve at the fence he is standing behind; whilst this does not hit him, it does cause him to fall over. Angered by Kirihara's violence, Fuji then uses the Knuckle Serve himself, which frightens Kirihara: he believes that Fuji is aiming for him. Due to Kirihara's fear, Fuji manages to win that game. When Kirihara's fear grows, he steps back, which causes him to get hit on his knee. Believing that Fuji hit his knee on purpose, Kirihara is paralyzed by his fear, which results Fuji winning the last few points with service aces. Shusuke Fuji (manga version) Fuji starts off the game by going on the offensive, which everyone is surprised at as Fuji's real strengths are his counters. After Fuji wins the first point with a smash, Kirihara goes straight into Bloodshot and starts using his split step to force Fuji into the corner, which Fuji counters with his Hakugei. Using the split step, Kirihara runs up to the ball and smashes the ball back, only for Fuji to return it with a Higuma Otoshi, causing him to win the game 1-0 without return. After several brief flashbacks, during which it is shown that it was Kunimitsu Tezuka's match with Keigo Atobe that made Fuji decide to start playing seriously, Kirihara injures Fuji with a smash that knocked Fuji's racket off and Fuji was blinded by the injury sustained as a result of Kirihara hitting the ball at Fuji's head during the match. After that, Fuji continues playing, still blind and refusing to be removed from the match. With the score 3-0 before that, Kirihara manages to win five straight games and mocks Fuji about the quality of his tennis. Fuji, however, wins the next 2 games, and is at match point when Kirihara unconsciously enters into Muga no Kyōchi. Producing the techniques of all the players he has played prior to this time, he begins to fight back against Fuji, challenging even his increased skill whilst blind. Ultimately, Kirihara loses because his grip is not yet strong enough to handle continuously hitting Sanada's Ka technique. The match ends with Fuji thus winning 7 games to 5. Ryoma Echizen (anime version) During the Junior Invitational camp, Kirihara plays a match with Ryoma Echizen to prove that he has changed his violent ways. They start to play evenly but Ryoma starts to take the lead when he hits a lob. Kirihara fails to return it, and falls to the ground: when he gets up, all those watching believe he has entered Bloodshot. However, his eyes have not turned red, effectively dispelling this belief; Kirihara begins to take the lead. When Kirihara finally hits a smash at a point where he could have easily injured Ryoma, he hits the baseline instead, thus proving to everyone that he has indeed changed for the better. Both he and Ryoma then enjoy their match to the end. Kevin Smith (anime only) In the Goodwill Games, Kirihara plays Kevin Smith of the American team in Singles 1. Kevin reacts badly to this as he wanted to play Ryoma Echizen of Seigaku, thus provoking Kirihara to reveal his new techique - Phantom Ball. After 3 Phantom Ball shots and a feint Kirihara wins the game in almost no time, making the score 1-0. Kevin admits that Kirihara is strong but then Kirihara insults him and Kevin wins his service game making the score 1-1. When Kevin hits a cord ball Kirihara returns the hit with the Phantom Ball, but he then runs into the pole supporting the net and injures his shoulder. Whilst he says he is alright, he cannot hit the Phantom Ball due to this and he loses the next game, making the score 1-2. Kirihara has a flashback to his defeat by the Three Demons, and remembers how he swore to become Number One - a flashback originally shown in the manga whilst he was playing against Fuji in the Kantō Finals. Kirihara then resumes hitting the Phantom Ball: despite Kevin figuring out the angle, the score still reaches 2-2 through Kirihara hitting feints. Kirihara realizes that if he plays with his bad shoulder his arm will be more severely injured, so he starts to hit with his left hand. However, the pain is ultimately too great, and he has to pass the match over to Ryoma whilst he goes to hospital. Trivia *Kirihara was the first rival player to appear in the manga (Chapter 19), when he fell asleep on the bus and ended up in Seigaku. He was mentioned (and briefly shown) in Chapter 15, by reporters Inoue and Shiba. *It is possible that he is being trained to defeat Tezuka: one can infer this through his interest in him and in that he is especially proficient at defeating left-handed players. *It has been mentioned, several times (and made somewhat of a point of) that his worst subject is English; his favourite/best subject is Japanese. Ironically, his father is a foreign worker. *Another subject that he (likes/is good at) is Physical Education *Blood Type: O *Height: 168cm *Weight: 61kg *Foot Size: 26.5cm *Favourite Food: roasted meat, sushi *Hobby: Playing video games (fighting games) *Favourite Colour: Red Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Rikkaidai Tennis Club Member